The Comprehensive Guide to Graphic Design for Advertising and Marketing

Written by UPrinting    ●    Updated on November 17, 2023


graphic designer desk

In a world of ever-shortening attention spans, no marketing campaign can succeed without making people stop and take notice of it. The right visuals can grab attention long enough for your message to get through and be memorable enough to stick in people's minds long after they saw your ad. Of course, not all attention is good attention, which is why good graphic design is crucial to any type of marketing.

What Is Graphic Design?

Graphic design is an art form that combines a message with visuals in an appealing way. Graphic designers use colors, images, and typography to convey the tone and content of the text while grabbing the attention of viewers. Good graphic design can ensure that an advertisement is visually pleasing and makes people want to know more about the product or service being advertised.

What Are the Different Types of Graphic Design?

Businesses need multiple of types of graphic design to be successful, including:

  • Visual Identity: Graphic design creates a recognizable identity for brands. Just think about a pair of yellow arches, a silhouette of an apple with a bite taken out of it, or a red and white bull's-eye. What companies do these simple images represent? Everyone knows, without even taking a moment to think, that these are the symbols of McDonald's, Apple, and Target. Each of these symbols immediately calls to mind the name of a brand, what that brand sells, and how you feel about the company.
  • Marketing and Advertising: Graphic designers can create a wide array of visuals to market a business, from billboards and magazine ads to social media graphics, postcards, vehicle wraps, and yard signs. These are the types of materials people most commonly think of when they think of graphic design.
  • Print Publications: Text-heavy products like catalogs, newsletters, and books can also benefit from the work of graphic designers. They often work on the covers of publications and add visual elements inside to break up the text.
  • Videos: From animated GIFs to viral videos, people love to consume moving visuals, and graphic designers can help to create these types of materials, producing video marketing pieces that are engaging and have a consistent brand identity.

How Can Graphic Design Help Your Business?

Good graphic design can have a number of benefits for any business, small or large:

  • Establish Brand Identity: Memorable and consistent visuals can help consumers to know who you are and remember you the next time they want to buy what you sell.
  • Drive Conversions: Well-designed promotional materials, from social media graphics to custom stickers, can help you to spread the word about your business and encourage people to take action, whether you want them to enter a contest, sign up for your newsletter, leave a review, or buy your new product.
  • Foster Loyalty: When you have consistent branding that conveys your company's values and the quality of your products, new customers are more likely to become repeat customers who are loyal to your brand. Well-designed branding can also encourage employees to feel pride in the company and be more loyal to the business.

How Can Graphic Design Help a Company Go Viral?

Graphic designers can create all of the types of materials that are likely to go viral. This may include photos or videos that give people a glimpse behind the curtain of your business, fun videos that capitalize on the latest trends, or compelling infographics that get people talking and position your company as an industry leader.

Graphic Design Tips

  • Keep it Simple: Using too many colors or typefaces or trying to cram too many details into one project can lead to a result that's cluttered and unappealing to look at. Stick with a few complementary colors and one or two typefaces, and don't be afraid to use white space; sometimes, less is more.
  • Legibility Is More Important Than Novelty: If you want to use a unique typeface for one large piece of display type, go for it, but for most of the text on your design, you should stick to simpler serif or sans-serif typefaces.
  • Don't Forget About Hierarchy: The most important things for the viewer to notice should be the most prominent ones in your design. Use larger type to emphasize key details and smaller type for less important information.

Additional Resources